Appeals Court Drops Little Rock Consolidation Offer

A federal appeals court, acting in a major interdistrict
school-desegregation case, has rejected a lower court's order that
would have forced the consolidation of the predominantly black Little
Rock (Ark.) School District with two predominantly white suburban
districts.

In its place, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on
Nov. 7 ordered shifts in district boundaries that are expected to boost
white enrollment in Little Rock from 29 percent of the total to 43
percent.

The court also called for the establishment of magnet schools in
predominantly black neighborhoods in Little Rock and encouraged the
three districts to establish a voluntary cross-district busing program
similar to the one it approved for the St. Louis metropolitan area two
years ago. Much of the cost of these provisions, as yet undetermined,
would be borne by the state of Arkansas, which was named as a defendant
in the suit.

The 6-3 vote in the case--Little Rock School District v. Pulaski
County Special School District--was taken by the full panel of Eighth
Circuit judges.

Lawyers involved in a similar suit in the Kansas City, Mo., area
watched with keen interest the developments in the Little Rock case.
The same appeals-court judges heard opening arguments in the Kansas
City case early last week.

The Pulaski County school board voted last week to ask the U.S.
Su-preme Court to overturn the appeals court's ruling in the Little
Rock suit.

Gov. Bill Clinton, meanwhile, told reporters shortly after the
decision was handed down that he had not yet decided whether to file an
appeal in the case.

"It's a cost-benefit issue with me," the Governor was quoted as
saying. He added that the appeals panel "seemed to be reaching" and was
"pretty tenuous" in requiring the state to pay for parts of the
remedy.

Little Rock school officials, while disappointed that the court did
not accept their arguments in favor of consolidation, will not
challenge the ruling, said Julia McGehee, a spokesman for the school
board.

"While we believe that consolidation is still the best long-term
solution, we will cooperate to make the court order work," she
said.

Latest Chapter

The move by Little Rock officials to win an order requiring the
consolidation of the three districts was the latest chapter in the
history of one of the nation's longest-running school-desegregation
disputes.

The most recent phase in the case began in November 1982, when
Little Rock filed suit against the state and the Pulaski County and
North Little Rock school districts, charging that their actions over
the years had contributed to segregation in the Little Rock
schools.

The city school officials argued that consolidation of the districts
offered the only long-term solution to segregation in the city
district, whose white enrollment has dropped fromel14l52 percent of the
total when busing began in 1973 to just under 30 percent in the current
school year.

U.S. District Judge Henry Woods accepted the Little Rock district's
arguments in April 1984, ruling that public education in the area had
reached "a crisis stage" that could be remedied only by consolidation.
The defendants in the case, with the Reagan Administration's support,
filed appeals in the case, contending that the remedy ordered by Judge
Woods did not match the violations at issue as required under Supreme
Court precedents.

In an 89-page ruling, the Eighth Circuit Court sustained the
district judge's findings on the state and the suburban districts'
liability for segregation in Little Rock, noting its agreement that
consolidation would represent "the most cost-efficient and effective"
manner of correcting the situation.

However, the court continued, it could not impose such a remedy if
it was not constitutionally required. The district court, the appeals
panel ruled, "erred in holding that consoli-dation was the only remedy
that would effectively cure the interdistrict violations."

Boundary Changed

The court then vacated Judge Woods's order and entered one of its
own, which shifted the boundary between the Little Rock and Pulaski
County districts. Under the change, Little Rock will gain 8,103
students from Pulaski County, of whom 5,963 are white and 2,140 are
black. Pulaski County will receive 749 students from Little Rock,
practically all of whom are black.

The court left the North Little Rock district's boundaries intact,
noting that its violations were not as major as those of Pulaski
County.

In addition, the appeals panel encouraged the development of a
voluntary cross-district busing plan-- the cost of which would be borne
by the state--and the establishment of magnet schools designed to
attract white suburban students to the Little Rock schools.

Boston's 'Unfinished Business'

In another school-desegregation development this month, the federal
district judge in the Boston public-school case explained his decision
to retain "standby" jurisdiction in some school affairs.

In a 33-page memorandum released on Nov. 1, U.S. District Judge W.
Arthur Garrity explained that there was "considerable unfinished
business in the prolonged process of desegregating Boston's public
schools.''

He said his intent was "to remove the case from the active docket
and close the file," while retaining the option of reopening the case
if his orders were not being carried out.

In early September, the judge issued his final orders in the
lawsuit, an act that essentially removed him from daily supervision of
the school district's affairs for the first time in 13 years.

Among the areas in which Judge Garrity retained jurisdiction are
school maintenance and renovation, faculty and staff desegregation, and
parent and student organizations.

St. Louis Bond Issue

In another city whose desegregation efforts have been closely
watched, St. Louis voters have again rejected a school-bond issue,
which would have funded school repairs ordered by a federal district
court.

The vote followed an order by the court overseeing the metropolitan
area's school-desegregation program that the district provide $20-
million to make what were described as desperately needed building
repairs.

According to school officials, the $155-million bond issue was
approved by 55 percent of the voters on Nov. 5. Missouri law requires,
however, that such measures be approved by two-thirds of those
voting.

The defeat marked the 10th consecutive time in 23 years that St.
Louis voters have rejected a school-bond issue. Margaret Polcyn, a
spokesman for the district, said school officials may resubmit the bond
issue to the voters as early as next spring.

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